The best Paris patisseries to follow on Instagram

Window shopping for cake is my favourite pastime and I adore admiring French patisseries. Paris’s Left Bank is packed with patisseries and chocolatiers so it’s heaven for cake voyeurs and baking addicts. Carrie Bradshaw may have tirelessly admired shoes whereas for me it’s choux.

Left Bank resident and friend Hilda of the sadly missed Saffron & Blueberry blog recently took me on a walking tour around the Rue du Bac and surrounding neighbourhood. It has become a pastry magnet in the past ten years and you can visit most of the biggest names in French patisserie within a walkable area.

Paris Patisseries walking map

Here is a virtual tour recapping the various places we visited with a mix of my pictures, embeds from Instagram, Facebook and 3D views from Google Street View. The map above highlights the places featured below – click the icon in the top left to choose which one to zoom in on.

A virtual tour of Paris patisseries

From the images embedded below, if you are logged into Facebook/Instagram on your device or desktop, you will be able to click through and “like” these accounts. I wanted to make it easy for you to follow some of these places yourself. They post so many fantastic patisserie photos for cake fanatics to pour over!

Now obviously it would have been nutritionally irresponsible for me to try ALL of these in one trip. I limited myself to some Eric Kayser pistachio cake and some Christophe Adam eclairs and merely drooled over the rest. But I have so many delicacies to work my way through it’s a great excuse to take my family back to Paris. Frankly I could hop on Eurostar every weekend for six months and only scratch the surface.

So meanwhile at home I’ll have to follow these French patisseries on social media. Or console myself with visiting the best bakeries in London whilst working my way through the Bake Off Creme de la Creme cook book.

In no particular order, here are the places Hilda showed me and a few others nearby also worth pointing out. Some of these businesses have branches elsewhere in Paris but the Left Bank is a great place to explore lots of Paris patisseries within a short distance.

If you know someone who would enjoy these recommendations then do please share this post!

1. Maison Kayser

With a staggering 40 branches in Paris, nationwide and globally, Eric Kayser has achieved international recognition for his breads and pastries. Their website says a London branch in Marylebone will open soon. As well as more intricate items Maison Kayser was selling many varieties of majestic pound cake in different flavours. I bought a deep green chunk of his pistachio one and ate it for breakfast the next day.

2. Dalloyau

Dalloyau has around a dozen branches in Paris then globally in the UAE, China, Japan and more bafflingly, Azerbaijan. The house of Dalloyau has an impeccable pedigree having been discovered by Louis XIV back in 1682. Their huge team of pastry chefs develops “collections” of cake a year in advance in the manner of haute couture fashion. These Maison Dalloyau YouTube videos are mesmerising showing off their stunning work.

3. Angelina

It seems unfair when Angelina produce a vast array of amazing cakes that it’s their hot chocolate that gets all the attention. Having tried one I could see why. Made from three kinds of African cocoas from Ivory Coast, Ghana and Niger, it’s no exaggeration to say you can almost stand the spoon up in it. Their chestnut mont blancs are another speciality. Established in 1903, both Marcel Proust and Coco Chanel were frequent visitors to Angelina’s original Belle Epoque Louvre salon but this quieter branch on Rue du Bac is one of nine alternatives around Paris.

4. Jacques Genin

Jacques Genin now specialises in chocolate – his Easter egg collection looked like blown Venetian glass – and he has two glamorous branches that feel as much like Bond Street jewellers as chocolate shops.

5. Des Gateaux et Du Pain

Claire Damon’s sleek modern premises feel more like a fashion store than a bakery. Trained by Pierre Hermé, over the past ten years she’s established herself as a favourite of on the Paris patisserie trail and a role model attracting more women to the profession.

6. La Grande Epicerie de Paris

La Grande Epicerie de Paris is the food hall arm of department store Bon Marché (no connection to the low cost fashion chain in the UK). Similar in scale to Harvey Nichols’ or Fortnum and Mason food halls, La Grande Epicerie was a fusion of upmarket grocery store and gift shop stocking foodie gifts from many big name French brands.

7. Hugo & Victor

Headed by award winning pastry chef Hugues Pouget, Hugo & Victor describes itself as “a universe of its own”. Their star flavours of chocolate, vanilla and caramel are sold all year round whereas other flavours are sold when “in season” for a true gourmet experience.

9. Chocolat Chapon

10. Gosselin

11. L’Eclair de Genie

My favourite eclairs! I saw this lemon yuzu eclair on Facebook recently and knew I had to get back to L’Eclair de Genie to try one. The salt caramel one on the right was an old favourite I’d tried last year. Christophe Adam has several branches of L’Eclair de Genie and also makes eclair shaped tarts topped with fruit. I will have to try those out next time.

12. Poilâne

There was uproar in the UK when Poilâne’s loaves of rustic bread went on sale for £4 a piece but it’s a travesty anyone compare their wares with the sliced white variety. Poilâne make the ultimate sourdough bread using sea salt from the Guerande and the best wheat from their suppliers. I keep a loaf in the freezer and toast it a slice at a time for a treat with homemade soup.

14. Ladurée

Picture Kerstin Dunst as Marie Antoinette in Sofia Coppola’s movie and that’s a good description of the atmosphere at Ladurée. They’re best known for macarons and choux pastry religeuses and an elegant destination for afternoon tea. The Rue Bonaparte corner shop branch with iconic eau de nil frontage is a must see. I wrote a post about the Laduree window displays in 2012.

16. Sadaharu Aoki

And just one more…

One of my favourites I sadly could not track down on Instagram or any social media at all for that matter – but it’s well worth a trip to…

17. Georges Larnicol

Maison du Georges Larnicol is somewhere I originally discovered and wrote about their St Malo branch back in 2010 but was later delighted to discover they had shops all over France.

It’s my favourite chocolate shop ever with endless displays of truffles, bars, biscuits and macarons. I feel like Augustus Gloop in Willy Wonka’s garden when I walk into this place. They have a very satisfying self service display in the manner of old fashioned Woolworths’ pick and mix and I frequently leave with about 5 different bags. The kouign amann Breton pastries and chocolate seagulls’ eggs are my favourites.

Comments

How I wish I could pull those delicious patisserie bakes out of the screen and just eat them now! I’m drooling! They look amazing. I must say you showed some amazing will power Sarah by just having Eric’s Pistachio cake and an eclair. Paris is one place I’ve never been to, but I know I certainly ought to looking at those amazing bakes. I watched an episode from Paul Hollywood’s new series (City Bakes) last week and the episode i saw he was in Paris looking at all of the patisserie and boulangerie shops….amazing !
Angela x

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